The Two That Were Saved
by Clio S.S
Summary: Corazon will always be Law's guiding light.


_Nothing noble in dying for your religion_  
 _For your country_  
 _For ideology, for faith_  
 _For another man, yes_

 _\- Nightwish, "Song Of Myself"_

* * *

Cora-san saved him - and in so many ways that Law knows he will need the whole life to realise them all. He saved him from death, snatching him from the grasp of disease that couldn't be cured and required a miracle; he was able to bring that miracle. He saved him from loneliness - one boy who the whole world had turned its back on and who was being given only hatred; the boy who no longer believed his life to be worth anything and didn't even consider himself a human any more. He saved him from Doflamingo and his raging fury of destruction, and gave him freedom. He saved him from darkness that would undoubtedly engulf Law, making him lose what was good in him: his humanity.

Cora-san gave him love that Law hadn't even expected to exist. He gave him everything, _anything_ , all himself, until there was nothing left. He gave him presence, tears and smile. He gave him Ope Ope no Mi and life. He gave him faith, hope and love. Until the very end, until his last breath, he protected and urged him forward, showing the right road - up to the light - and never caring about anything else. He saved Law at the cost of himself... while Law would have settled just with those words, 'I love you.'

And though not a single day passes by without Law regretting and cursing what happened - without wishing he could turn back time - he still cannot appreciate it, accept that gift... and all those gifts he'd bestowed upon. He must respect them, embrace them and absorb them inside, for doing otherwise would mean being disrespectful towards his most important person. Even though they were so different - one calm and composed, sceptical and rational, and perfectly precise, and the other scatterbrained and absurdly clumsy, with that foolish smile and by any mean with some loose screws, with his heart on his sleeve and filled with light - Law wants to take inside as much of Cora-san as possible. Cora-san straightened that dwarfed plant Law had turned into, due to his disease and that nightmare his life had been. He gave him support and nutrition, and showed the direction: up, always towards light. Not towards evil, depression and hate - only towards faith, hope and love. Not to cruelty, manipulation and destruction - but to support, good and justice. He awaked, resurrected in Law what had always been there... inside the child of the doctors: desire to help others.

Law could give into despair, but it wouldn't bring him any answers... and it wasn't what Cora-san wished for. Cora-san got him out of hopelessness, apathy and nihilism, skilfully sparked the will to live in him - started the flame that have never gone out. In his worse moments, Law tells himself it's all about revenge... but in reality that fire burning in him is much stronger than any wish of revenge. Such love he experienced can change a man for all time; he is aware of it with every cell of his body.

Even though he was gloomy, withdrawn and antisocial, emanated his animosity and manifest to destroy everything... Even after he'd tried to kill him (and he really had wanted to do it)... Even after all that Cora-san welcomed him, _him_ and no other, into his heart and flooded him with light. Clumsiness incarnated, unable to walk ten metres without tripping or light his cigarette without putting himself on fire as well... (How come that coordinately-challenged giant had survived before meeting Law...?!) A klutz prone both to weeping and laughing (but only around him), capable of saying the most embarrassing things as if he commented the weather. A being full of light who didn't hesitate to put into action everything his heart suggested, so wonderful, so genuine in his despair and his happiness, with all those emotions transparent. Determination in its crystal pure form that didn't turn back from the path to execute his decision if he only believed them to be right. Against someone like that Law feels almost worthless.

Almost.

It took him years to understand (although he still can't believe it incessantly, for the whole time, for in those bad moments he thinks he brought only tragedy upon him) that, just as Cora-san had saved him, he had saved Cora-san, too. Not to the equal extent and without really sacrificing anything - but with some part of himself he gave him happiness. Before Law appeared, what kind of life had Donquixote Rosinante had? Lonely by his monster-brother side, lonely amongst his supposed companions, who were in fact his enemies. Surrounded by the wall of silence and forbidden to communicate with anyone. Who knows how deeply hurt in his past - what wounds had he bore in his body and soul? (He never talked about it, yet Law, perhaps due to his own experience, could at least guess them to be there.) Secretly and mutely serving his purpose, realising his mission, aware that one slip meant death. Forced to do terrible things - in the name of greater good, someone else's vision that might be his own vision, too, but how cold, empty and distant? He sacrificed himself, subordinated his life only to that mission, as if submitting himself to belief he deserved nothing more. Marine Commander that was expected to fulfil his task. A pawn in the game between the major forces of the world - on the opposite sides of justice - to be sacrificed in due time.

Yet that very same man resigned from his both roles - discarded his mission as if it wasn't at all important and exposed himself to the danger of being denounced or simply enraging his monster-brother - to take care of Law. He set off on a journey to cure his disease. He didn't care about himself, he didn't give a damn about his own welfare or safety - he cared only about Law. Finally, he was doing what he really wanted - and was doing something _good_ , something his heart desired. (After all, he was good incarnated, just as his brother was pure evil.) Law gave him that possibility, gave him that chance. And even though he was doing the same thing again: sacrificing himself for someone else - what joy was in it...! What desire, what enthusiasm! What honesty, what conviction. What happiness. He cried over him and laughed around him. He made a comically stupid face when Law called him 'Cora-san' for the first time. He danced around upon learning about Ope Ope no Mi. He went at the enemy bare-handed to claim that thing that was more important than any treasure could ever be. And when lying defeated on the snow of the Minion Island, so close yet so far from Law, whom he'd hidden in safe, he was smiling until his very end, as if he'd gained victory. He was dying as a man fulfilled, as if he didn't regret anything he'd done.

And thus, Law doesn't want to regret either, even if the memory of what had happened that day - even now, after all those years – still makes his heart ache. He'd rather not recollect those final, bitter moments when Cora-san, guarding him until the very end, left to never return - he'd rather remember those sweet moments when Cora-san was so alive. When he laughed like a total moron, when he exploded with fury, when he stubbornly and tirelessly dragged Law from one hospital to another, when he cried over his suffering as if his heart was about to break... When he radiated light and joy that could blow apart the whole earth, prattle all the time and believed unwaveringly he would save him. When he showed that Trafalgar D. Water Law was his whole world and sense of life. When he was by his side - so happy that it wasn't possible to fake it.

As a doctor, Law is of the opinion there's nothing more important that the life itself. As a man who was saved in much more ways than just medical, he realises there is still something greater, more essential. If you have someone you could tell 'I love you' and go to die for them, sacrifice _everything_ for them, then even death ceases to be significant. Hence Law - apart from those occasional moments of dejection – doesn't dwell in regrets, doesn't despair, doesn't run away. He moves forward, guided by the light named _Corazón_ and, with every day of his existence, paying tribute to the man who considered him more important than life. He hopes that when his own end comes - although he doesn't rush to it - he will accept it with the feeling of fulfilment and satisfaction, just like the one who saved him and showed him the way, did.

More than anything, he is certain that his heart will never lose that guiding light.


End file.
